The Only Way Out
by elbead
Summary: There were only a few ships that entered Salazar's cursed domain. This is the story of one such ship, the Providence Bound, and the maiden it brought.
1. Chapter 1

**I have decided to put this story out there based on two reasons. The first being the regrettable lack of Salazar fics out there! The second being an observation I made during the movie. There had to have been ships other than Henry's that visited the Devil's Triangle during Salazar's time there. And Salazar stated that he always leaves one to tell the tale. But if he only leaves one, then how does that one person get out?! Surely Henry did not sail a ship by himself all the way back home! I am hoping to explore that situation and find an answer. I'm not sure where this story is heading, but I hope the journey will be interesting.**

It was one thing to be on a ship that was being attacked. It was another to be locked in the kitchen while said ship was being attacked.

Nevertheless, that is exactly where Cornelia Abbott found herself. Seeking passage to the Americas Cornelia signed up to work for her fare as an assistant to the ship's cook. It was a job nothing short of grungy, but it was her ticket aboard the grand galleon called Providence Bound _. Not that any sort of divine providence seems to be helping right now!_ The young woman couldn't help but think.

Above Cornelia could hear the roar of gunfire and men's voices screaming as if in terror. Their fear earlier had come from the onslaught of a hurricane. So in order to seek shelter and wait out the storm the captain had sailed the Providence into a nearby triangular cavern. Once inside, however, a sense of doom took over the crew and Cornelia was ordered by the head cook to retreat to the galley and lock the door. As soon as she had, the fire was swept from the furnace and all warmth quickly subsided. Then came the screams and gunfire. In that instant Cornelia dropped the key in the pitch black darkness of the kitchen. _How can we be under attack? Was there already another ship in this cave? And where is that blasted key?!_ Cornelia's mind seemed to race with questions as she noisily felt around the galley for the missing key.

"Dear God help us…" the kitchen maid prayed, not for the first time. When the word "amen" left her lips, a deadly silence overtook the ship.

"Oh! They're done fighting!" she gasped, "Help! Please, someone!" but no answer came to her. Cornelia stopped to listen for any sound of life. As she waited, footsteps came from above her head. "HELP!" she cried once more.

"Where are you?" came a voice with a strange accent.

Cornelia's heart began to race. The crew of the Providence Bound had lost! There was no one left but the captors.

"Where are you?" came the voice again, sounder closer than before. Cornelia backed away from the door. In the darkness it was hard to see, but a small streak of light from under the door let her know where she needed to move away from. Very, very carefully Cornelia brushed her fingers around for a knife. Not that it would do her much good if they had swords…but still. _And at least the door is still locked,_ she thought.

"Ah! There you are!"

"BLOODY HELL!" Cornelia grabbed a knife and spun around. "How did you get in here?!"

The figure who now occupied the kitchen with her was ill defined in the blackness, but spoke with a Spanish accent.

"Silly chica, I walked through the door. And now you must come with me." The figure reached out his hand suddenly. Cornelia shrieked and thrust her knife forward.

"That is not nice, and not necessary." Said the man, sounding completely unharmed and without pain.

"Look here, I still do not understand how you got in here! The door is still shut, and I locked it, and if it is still locked we aren't getting out until I find the key that I dropped, and even then I still do not understand how you think I will just _go_ with you." Cornelia stated harshly.

"I already told you," said the young sailor, "I walked through the door."

"What do you mean you 'walked through the door'? I just told you, it's locked!"

With a sigh the sailor stated, "I will show you, since you are so unwilling to believe me." With a quick turn and a grunt, the sailor kicked the door down swiftly. Cornelia would have been impressed if she had not already been stricken with fear by what stood before her. The man she had been speaking to was a grey skinned young sailor, whose face was laced with black crevices. An oily substance dripped slowly from his mouth as his smirk turned into a grin, and his dark hair floated around his face. Perhaps most disturbing though, was the gaping hole in his midsection through which Cornelia could see the doorway. "What are you?" she muttered.

"I am a ghost, an officer of the Spanish Navy, and my name is Officer Santos." He held out his hand once more to Cornelia, "And you, mi señora, will come with me."

"To where?" Cornelia's voice was shaking now, but Santos' merely responded with a laugh.

"To meet the capitán, of course!"

 **Let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to those of you who responded! It means a great deal to me! And thank you to** Potato gaming **for remembering how Henry got back! I thought about it, but it still seems like the odds that he would actually make it back to land on a piece of driftwood are astronomical. Does anyone know how far away the Devil's Triangle is supposed to be from Saint Martin? Let me know!**

Taking each step carefully, Cornelia hesitantly made her way up the dark stair corridor to the main deck. _If I try to run, will he be able to grab me?_ She wondered. _Perhaps because he is just a spirit he cannot really touch me. After all, he did go through the door, so I might just go right through him. And if that is the case, perhaps I could get away._ Daring to steal a glance behind her to see if Santos was still following, her suspicions were confirmed when he shot her a black toothed smile.

"Don't even think about trying to run senorita, there is nowhere you can go that we can't reach you."

"We?"

Santos only grinned even further, allowing more of the black oily substance to escape from the corner of his mouth. "Si senorita, 'we.'"

Cornelia reached the top of the staircase only to be confronted by an entire crew of the macabre spirits. Some had fully complete bodies while others were badly maimed like Santos. Still further, though, some had so little left of them that Cornelia could hardly understand how they functioned. Some were missing legs or heads, or both!

"My God!" Cornelia's gasped and she turned to run back down the stairs only to run straight into Santos. The sailor let out a deep laugh and grabbed the young woman around her waist to throw her over his shoulder. _I guess they can be solid…but if they can be solid, then maybe I can kick my way out of his grasp._

"Put me down! This is not how a lady should be treated!"

As Santos carried her, kicking and thrashing, through the gathering crowd of amused spirits Cornelia screamed in desperation until a new voice interrupted her efforts.

"What have we here, Santos?" called a deep voice

Though Cornelia had been thrown over Santos' shoulder, through the window of his abdomen she could see a terrifying figure. Another ghostly man wearing what must have once been a resplendent uniform. He was missing part of his face and was using a rusted sword as a cane. Cornelia would have continued to gape at him in her upside down position, but Santos dropped her in an ungraceful heap at his own feet.

The man who had just addressed Santos took two heavy, slow strides towards Cornelia. The galley maid wanted to back away from his approach, but her skirts tangled around her legs and Santos' feet still behind her prevented any quick escape.

"Do not be afraid, my name is Capitan Salazar." He smiled broadly at the young woman and held out a hand to help her up. Very, very cautiously Cornelia took the stranger's hand and was lifted to a standing position. His hand was cool, like a chilly breeze, and strong. "And what is your name?"

"It's, um…" Cornelia was busy looking around at the strange beings and the dank cave surrounding her, she completely forgot to answer his question, "…where am I?"

"You're not the one asking questions here!" chided an officer with an eyepatch.

"It's okay, Lesaro." The Captain spoke calmly, holding up a hand to stop further protests from the officer. "You are in the Devil's Triangle."

Cornelia had many questions she wanted to ask. What is the Devil's Triangle? How does one get out? What happened to this ghost crew? What happened to the Providence Bound crew? But there was one question that she felt the need to ask above all others.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Some of the crew snickered, but the captain only smiled gently. "No, senorita. I am going to let you live so that you can send a message."

"A message for what?" the maiden asked.

"The more important question is," Salazar spoke slowly and took another step forward bringing him close enough that Cornelia could see his individual strands of hair floating, "A message for whom?"

Cornelia's breath hitched as he continued.

"Tell the pirate Jack Sparrow that I am Death, and Death will come straight for him."

Cornelia had only heard of the infamous pirate captain and didn't think she would ever see him. Nevertheless, it seemed in her best interest to agree to his terms. So, Cornelia nodded her head quickly in compliance.

"Good." Salazar turned quickly to give some orders to his crew in his native tongue, after which they began jumping over the edge of the ship. He began to follow them, until…

"Wait, please." The Captain turned his head to look over his shoulder at the maiden. "How am I supposed to leave?"

"You have several options. Try to sail this galleon yourself, though I would like to see you try!"

He must have thought himself very funny at that moment, because he burst into laughter. But the galley maid was adamant that he continue, "And what other options do I have?"

"Well," Salazar continued as he walked to the side of the ship, "you could row a boat, or wait for another ship…" He jumped onto the railing and was about to make his leap to follow his crew, but not before looking over his shoulder at the girl once more, "…but you might be waiting for quite some time."

And then he jumped. Cornelia leaned over the edge of the ship to watch and was astonished when he landed on his feet, on top of the water. And, with utter disbelief, continued to watch as he ran on the water toward the fog that cloaked the rest of the cave.

Cornelia turned and realized, for the first time, that her crew were nowhere to be seen. She figured they had been killed off during the fighting, but there were not even any bodies to be seen. Quickly, Cornelia turned back towards where the Spanish Captain had run, he was barely perceptible at the edge of the fog.

"Where is the rest of my crew?!" She called to him, hearing her voice echo eerily in the cavern.

After a pause, long enough to leave Cornelia wondering whether he would answer she finally heard his voice echoing several times back to hers.

"Gone."

And with that, he disappeared into the blanket of fog, and Cornelia was truly alone.


End file.
